TYRONE TOWNSHIP, MI – Enbridge Energy said that they had every right to commandeer an additional 25-foot easement on Debora Hense’s property to replace a preexisting pipeline which delivers crude oil to different parts of the Midwest.

Debora Hense, her son and daughter stand among an area of their property that was cleared of about 50 trees this morning.

Enbridge, who has been in negotiation with Debora Hense to gain access 25 feet beyond the existing 60-foot easement already in place, said that the installations of the pipeline needed to progress and was being unnecessarily held up.

“Under the law, the situation is that there’s a landowner where Enbridge has a multiple line right easement,” said Joe Martucci, a project spokesman for the company. “We have the right to install another pipeline in that easement.”

An easement established for the property in 1969 says the easement holder – Enbridge, in this case – has the right to prepare, maintain and improve upon the project to the extent reasonably calculated to promote the purpose for which the easement was originally created. It also states that the dominant tenant – Hense – must not interfere with the rights of the servient tenant – Enbridge.

Records show that Enbridge maintained state approval for the additional easement in May when a request was granted by the Michigan Public Service Commission in Lansing.

Hense, who was awakened this morning by the sound of work crews cutting down large trees in her backyard, said that her family was offered a settlement by Enbridge to acquire the additional 25 feet they wanted, but the two sides never reached an agreement.

“I walked out here and saw these trees shaking and moving,” she said.

The company, Hense said, could have given them the extension or could have taken them to court.

“The situation is that there’s a landowner where Enbridge has a multiple line right easement,” Martucci said. “They have the right to install another pipeline in that easement and we’ve been trying to work things out without having to exercise that right, but things needed to move forward.”

Martucci said that Enbridge has been in discussions with multiple landowners since 2011 in regards to the current pipeline replacement project and they’ve dealt with more than 650 homeowners. Hense, said Martucci, is the first landowner where they’ve encountered a problem.

“They couldn’t work things out so we really had no other choice but to exercise our rights under the law and do what we need to in order to install the adjacent pipeline.”

Hense estimated that about 50 large trees were cleared this morning before she, her children and their neighbor could get crews to stop.

The Henses’ attorney, Chris Christenson, was working this afternoon to get a temporary restraining order in place. A call to Christenson’s office was not immediately returned.

“The project is in the public interest and need,” Martucci said. “I don’t know if there will be any legal action against [Hense] on our behalf or not.”